E286 

.C48 

1853 



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THE 
MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY. 



TWO DISCOURSES 






DELIVERED BEFORE THE UNITARIAN CHRISTIANS, OF 
CHARLESTON, S. C. 

ON SUNDAY, JULY 3d, 1853. 



B T y^ 

REV. CHARLES M . TAGGART. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 




Charleston : 



STEAM POWER-PRESS OF WALKER AND JAMES, 
No. 3 Broad-Street. 

1853. 



'-— (C (Sk. 



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DISCOURSE I. 



THE 

MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

WITH REFERENCE TO THE WORLD. 

DISCOURSE I. 

Ye are a peculiar people, called out of darkness into marvellous light. — 1 
Peter, 2: 9. 

Who can tell all the influences of which he is the reci- 
pient, or of which he is the radiating centre ? If a man 
is a world in miniature, in a still broader sense is a 
nation a world in miniature. It becomes a people to 
know, if possible, the history, condition, prospects and 
tendencies of the institutions which control them. 

What, then, are the moral aspects and relations, and 
what appears to be the moral mission of our country ? 

Never, at any previous period of the world's advance- 
ment, was the mutual dependency of nations so obvious 
as now. The numerous civilizing agencies of the last 
century have been gradually, yet rapidly, uniting and 
blending the great interests of the governments of the 
enlightened world. Every prominent measure, affecting 
favorably, or otherwise, the welfare of the people of any 
government, is observed, if not felt in its operations, by 
the whole circle of civilized nations. Commerce, in this 
later age, has been at once the incentive and the agent of 
scientific research, by which such arts have been invented, 
as change essentially the relation of every people to every 
other. 



6 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

As a result, we discover an activity of mind and desire 
for progress, to which nothing similar can be found in the 
annals of the world. On every side there is commotion, 
and in many quarters fear and trembling. Great experi- 
ments are in contemplation, and the wisest of the wise 
dare venture no prophecies as to the complexion which 
affairs will assume during a coming generation. 

To know our own moral position we must observe 
that of the nations of Christendom. Look, for a mo- 
ment, at the present attitude of Europe. Britain, whose 
possessions extend around the globe, with her extremes 
of prodigious wealth and wretched poverty, her nobles 
and her beggars, her charities and her oppressions, her 
glory and her shame, gradually adapting her govern- 
ment to the demands and increasing power of an en- 
lightened people, still retains her stupendous military 
force, and scarcely seems to know whether her authority 
is strengthing or weakening, whether her throne is more 
stable, or whether public opinion is not daily undermining 
its foundations. 

Russia and Austria, by a vast military power, holding 
in subordination the Polish and Hungarian elements of 
revolution, have millions of serfs and subjects ready to 
enter upon every bold and hazardous experiment, which 
may offer to relieve them from an oppression, which 
strives to reduce them to the veriest barbarism. 

Italy, v.^ith Rome, once the seat of the mightiest power 
on earth, now only relieved from revolution or anarchy 
by the overshadowing force of a foreign government, and 
the Pontifical throne still sitting over the crater of a social 
volcano, liable every hour to burst forth in burning fury, 
and consume every symbol of spiritual and monarchical 
authority. 

France, for a moment silent under the fierce frown of 
a daring usurper, but with restless millions eagerly await- 
ing some fresh moving of the waters, when they may 



WITH REFERENCE TO THE WORLD. 7 

embark upon any sea of troubles rather than wear the 
chains now imposed upon them by a tyrant. Temporary 
repose may be secured ; but all is uncertainty and fear. 
Permanent peace is not expected. Change must soon 
occur ; but what change it is impossible even to imagine. 

Such is the picture of European affairs at this day. A 
vast population struggling and trembling after the passage 
of successive revolutions, with the prospect of still suc- 
cessive revolutions, now hoping and now fearing, and 
scarcely knowing whether most to hope or most to fear. 

Look, then, at our own condition and contrast it. For 
three quarters of a century we have been steadily in- 
creasing in territorial extent, in population and commer- 
cial influence. There being few or no restraints on the 
diffusion of knowledge, science has been exploring, art 
inventing, wealth accumulating, and facilities daily multi- 
ply for intercommunication, — and this almost bloodlesslv, 
peacefully, and with popular intelligence constantly aug- 
menting. Yet, while enjoying peace, we are not to over- 
look the fact, that while extending from a few thinly 
settled States, along the Atlantic, into an united family of 
populous commonwealths, covering the continent from 
one great ocean to the other, we have passed through the 
ordeal of two wars — which though brief, may, perhaps, 
be termed fierce and sanguinary wars— one with our 
mother-land, and one with our neighboring republic in the 
southwest. 

On the whole we have abundant cause for congratula- 
tion, and for gratitude, having enjoyed blessings unequalled 
by those of any people on the globe. We might justly 
take up the Hebrew prophet's exclamation, " What 
nation is there so great ? He hath not dealt so by any 
people." 

But, whilst we are duly grateful, it becomes us not to 
be vainly boastful. While encouraging most ardent hope, 
let us not indulge blind confidence. 



8 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

1 am well aware it is expected that the preacher is to 
search out the dark side of every subject, in order that he 
may find a topic for pious exhortation. But it is indulg- 
ing no mere pulpit cant to declare, as a principle, that as 
all that gives permanent value to individual character is 
moral excellence, so the only true basis of national great- 
ness is moral power. 

All that can give stability to the best devised civil insti- 
tutions is moral character and moral worth. This is the 
only reasonable deduction from philosophy and history, 
as well as the Divine dictate of the Christian religion. 

In our day, we say much of missions. We make the 
term mission one of marked significance. We say every 
man has a mission ; every institution has a mission ; every 
government has a mission. Let us inquire what is the 
moral mission of our country ? In view of the extent of 
our territory, the productions of our soil, the variety of 
our climate, our inexhaustible resources, and the freedom 
of our institutions, it seems to be the mission of our 
country to furnish to mankind an example of moral power 
and moral progress — peaceful power, and peaceful im- 
provement. 

Yet some, and not wholly without cause, doubt our capa- 
city to fill this sublime mission. They apprehend that we 
do not improve in wisdom as we improve in wealth ; that 
we do not increase in virtue as we increase in influence ; 
that patriotism does not keep pace with party spirit ; that 
religion does not keep pace with railroads ; that moral 
worth does not keep pace with magnetic wires ; and they 
are ready to adopt the warning words " We must edu- 
cate ! we must educate ! or we must perish by our own 
prosperity." This suggests a truth entitled to profound re- 
flection, namely, that what is needed, is not s\m^\y to edu- 
cate, but to educate into manly independence of thought — 
to educate into the universal duty of self-knowledge and 
self-reliance. For we know and see, that men may be edu- 



WITH REFERENCE TO THE WORLD. 9 

cated into the defence of illiberality, persecution and des- 
potism. Men may, with the most abundant appliances of 
mental culture, refinement and taste, be educated with no 
comprehensiveness of thought, and no enlargement of the 
affections. With all the means of mental accomplishment, 
men may be educated as the most contracted and virulent 
partisans, or the most intolerant and unrelenting bigots. 

But, not pursuing this idea now, let us inquire what is 
there to be feared or hoped for, at present, from the pre- 
valence of party spirit ? In our country, political influen- 
ces afifect every man, in some measure, in all his relations. 
They affect him as an individual, and a social being ; 
they have a bearing upon, and perform a part in develop- 
ing the intellectual, moral and religious character of all 
interested in them. 

The history of nations, testifies that party spirit has 
occasioned great calamities. On this point there would 
be ground for apprehension among us, were there in ope- 
ration no corrective tendencies, neutralizing and overru- 
ling evils. Some seem to fear that we may lose both 
the spirit and the institutions of our fathers by the in- 
creasing distance between our times and the times which 
"tried men's souls." 

Whilst anxieties like these are not entirely unfounded, 
we discover that there exists still a strong sentiment of 
reverence for the fervent patriotism and self-sacrificing 
devotion, of the early fathers of the republic. 

Not long since, you will remember, an eloquent patriot 
who escaped from the tyranny of Austrian and Russian 
power, was welcomed as the guest of our people. He 
appealed to their principles and their sympathies, their de- 
votion to liberty, and their indignation against despotism. 
In breathing thoughts and burning words, he told the sad 
story of his country's woes. He endeavored to lead our 
government to the adoption of a new policy which would 
have involved us in the present revolutions and impend- 
ing battles of Europe. Indeed, no effort was spared to 



10 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

weaken the attachment of our people to a pacific policy — 
to enhst their sympathies — to secure their aid, and almost 
to stir up the fierce, the revengeful, the more ungoverna- 
ble of human passions. 

But all failed to shake the popular reverence for the 
purest, holiest sentiments of Christian brotherhood, incul- 
cated by our fathers. Neither government or people has 
been willing to descend from the lofty moral eminence 
which our nation has gradually gained. True, we have 
sorrow for the oppressed of everj?^ land, in Europe. We 
have sympathy for their sufferings, a home for the refu- 
gees, bread for the starving, and wide arms to give a 
welcome embrace to all who seek an asylum on our 
broad, free, blessed shores. 

But our government and our people have virtually said — 
we hear your appeals, we are not blind to your trials, 
we have helped, we do help, we are helping you now 
even more than you imagine ; but we cannot descend 
from our high place of universal observation to become 
the ivarlike champion of one nation. We are not living 
for ourselves ; but, encompassed with a cloud of wit- 
nesses, we are the polar star in the political heavens to 
guide the laboring barks of an hundred nations. Our 
mission is a moral mission, and we must use moral weap- 
ons. We are speaking courage to the world's ear, and 
awakening courage in the world's heart. 

For four thousand years the world has been waiting, 
hoping, and longing with anxious soul, for an example of 
self-government, universal intelligence, free conscience, 
and moral power, — giving stability to character, and in- 
spiring the human family with faith, — and we believe 
that it is ours to offer that example. 

Help do you ask ? Have we not aided you ? What 
voice was it that stirred the first impulse in your bosom, 
and kindled the patriotic flame on the altar of your 
hearts 1 Was it not the voice of American liberty ? 

What moved Poland and Greece to struggle to be 



WITH REFERENCE TO THE WORLD. 11 

free ? Was it not the sunlight of our institutions beam- 
ing over on their shores 1 What agitated Austria ? What 
preserves bright hope in Italy ? What has impelled 
France in her repeated efforts and repeated failures, and 
what now is the sole beam of light which breaks through 
the gloom of her temporary depression — what but the 
example of the American Union — the moral sun which 
God is holding up to illumine and guide the nations, to 
freedom, to knowledge, and to peace ? 

The rich islands on our own hemisphere, in the Carri- 
bean sea, where do they look for relief from their bur- 
dens, but to the resistless moral power of our example? 
The whole sisterhood of God-blessed but man-cursed 
nations in South America, where is their hope of ultimate 
deliverance but in the prospect of our permanency and 
progress — by the extension of our commerce, carrying 
the golden line of enlightened liberty around through the 
nations of the globe, and along that line, one day to send 
an electric current which shall dissolve the iron of every 
crown, and sceptre, and throne forever ? 

We are Americans, but we are also Christians. We 
are republicans, but we are also brothers of mankind. 
We are living, not only for ourselves, for a nation, or for 
the present only. We are hving for posterity, for the 
future, for all our race who may succeed us on the earth. 
The existing nations of the earth ! we love them all ; but 
we cannot by becoming the special champion of one, 
weaken our resources for the world's help. True, we 
have once been crucified, but we have been crucified for 
the world's salvation. We have once been buried in 
sorrow, and tears, and blood, but we have risen to be 
the resurrection and the life, to the nations of the earth. 

This, is the voice which our government and people 
have uttered, and which testifies at once to the existence 
of regard for justice, a patriotic devotion to our own in- 
stitutions, and a philanthropic regard for the welfare of 
mankind. It testifies to the existence of a moral senti- 



12 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

ment, and the consciousness of our moral mission. Easily 
as (he people may at times be agitated, and violent as 
party spirit may at times become, there are always some 
calm, judicious mentors, unaffected by extraneous com- 
motions, who raise their word of warning, and whose 
voices are not unheeded. Three quarters of a century 
more have now passed, since the signing of what has been 
styled " the most important document ever issued by un- 
inspired men ;" and yet their memory, with that of the 
great, virtuous, and world-renowned Washington, is em- 
balmed among the holiest recollections of the living gene- 
ration. 

By all these encouragements, by recalling considera- 
tions which mitigate existing evils, I am not pretending 
to allege that there is no greater room for improvement, 
and that there are not occasions for some anxiety. 

Notwithstanding the ordeals through which our institu- 
tions have passed, and from which they have emerged, 
like gold from the crucible, purer for the trial, yet the ex- 
alted moral eminence we occupy in the observation of 
the world, the real grandeur of our moral mission to the 
nations of mankind, are by no means appreciated and 
remembered as they should be. 

We have perils to encounter, and we must neither 
conceal nor disguise them ; and while such vital interests 
are involved, where are we to look for a dispassionate, 
paternal, reconciling and admonitory voice, if not to the 
altars of our Christian religion — the altars of human love 
and universal peace. We have individual ambitions, sec- 
tional jealousies, party strifes, and sectarian divisions; 
we have misguided zeal and morbid conscience. These 
are some of the evils we must encounter, and of the 
perils we must guard against. 

Our own confidence in ourselves furnishes no infallible 
warrant of national immortality. Neither faith in our 
past success, nor our inherent vitality, can secure the 
permanence of our institutions. All human history fur- 



WITH REFERENCE TO THE WORLD. 13 

nishes no more striking instance of unfaltering faith, than 
that which the Hebrews had in their own stabihty. That 
their national institutions, their temple and religion, should 
stand and triumph, and reign unrivalled in the earth, they 
did not for a moment doubt. Yet the exact spot on which 
their temple stood cannot be determined now, so com- 
pletely has that monument of their power been swept 
away. The Mohammedan crescent now glistens over 
the dome from which once floated the royal banners of 
Judah, and the remnants of the race are found in every 
continent, in every nation. 

It is the same with Pagan nations, and the same with 
Christian nations. There are allusions in the New Tes- 
tament, and other Christian records, to Christian commu- 
nities once existing, where, as far as we can determine, 
Pagan or Mohammedan authority now sways an undis- 
puted sceptre, leaving no vestige of the faith of the cruci- 
cified Nazarene. 

We are, the wisest and best of us, but men, and neither 
angels nor gods ; and all our achievements, like our- 
selves, must bear the mark of fallibility. 

Institutions we have, social, political and religious, 
of the value, the necessity and expediency of which, 
there is, and of necessity must be, difference of opin- 
ion. But, as minds vary with bodies, as mental capa- 
cities vary with physical features, why may not all 
opinions be entertained with undoubted honesty, and be 
presented with earnest manly modesty, and be considered 
calmly in the spirit of just concession 1 

Why may not every improvement and experiment be 
suggested freely, if possible, tried fairly, and the result 
successful, or unsuccessful, be acknowledged generously? 
Why may not all, on every side, listen patiently, and ex- 
amine candidly, act honestly and concede manfully ? 
Then, action being in every instance squared and regula- 
ted by that well styled golden rule, " do to others even 
as ye would that others should do to you," there need be 



14 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

no discord, which may not be harmonized, no clashing 
sentiments which may not be reconciled, no various ex- 
periments which may not co-operate. 

Acting in such a spirit, the result would and must be, 
change where change is needed, improvement where im- 
provement is required; and in all and over all, individuals and 
institutions, natural Christian developement, progress and 
enjoyment. Patience there must be, both in thought and 
action ; and without patience, concession, peace and im- 
provement, are alike impracticable and impossible. 

Could the conscript fathers, the illustrious framers of 
that solemn declaration, the proclamation of which to- 
morrow will commemorate — could they have pierced the 
dim vista of the future, and looking forward have foreseen 
the glory of our country — could they with the seers eye 
have discerned the passions and jealousies which now 
exist and jeopardize the grand national union, which is 
the great anomaly in the history of nations, and the ad- 
miration of the enlightened world, they would have re- 
corded a rich testament of precious words to be opened 
now, and read by the assembled nation. Appealing 
solemnly to our common memories, trials, enjoyments and 
hopes, they would remind us of the just concessions and 
reasonable compromises which they made, and also of the 
conflicting opinions, prejudices and interests which they 
reconciled. They would recal us to sacred memories — 
memories reaching back to the period when our common 
ancestors braved the perils of the ocean, the savage and 
the wilderness, to find "freedom to worship God." Hal- 
lowed memories of that hour when they pledged together, 
hfe, fortune, and sacred honor, in a cause which demand- 
ed and which received the sacrifice of peace, of property, 
and blood. They would appeal to us by our common 
language, common laws and interests — interests extending 
over our continent, connecting with the nations of the 
civilized globe, and looking forward to remote posterity. 
They would appeal to us as reverential children, and as 



WITH REFERENCE TO THE WORLD. 15 

loving brothers, to remain united in one unbroken circle 
of linked liberty, and trust, and love. 

It is a solemn and fearful responsibility which we incur. 
Let each man persist — as some reformers and theorists of 
our age do — in exalting self-conscience, which is often 
nothing more than self-interest, prejudice, and pride of 
judgment, — let each one exalt this rule of imperfectly 
enlightened individual conscience, as an infallible standard 
by which to test the civil and social institutions of our 
country, and how soon may the ruins of our government 
lie scattered round us, and we be ready to take refuge 
from the horrors of anarchy, in tyranny or barbarism. The 
political sun which now illuminates the world, would then 
be eclipsed forever. On the stormy sea of life, mankind 
would then be left without a bow of earthly promise, or 
an anchor of earthly faith. Similarity of interests, com- 
munity of laws, of language and of religion, all these, 
could then afford no criteria for the future. For in the 
possession of all these incomparable blessings to an un- 
paralleled degree, we should then have perished, and the 
dark pall of oblivion would shroud together, our national 
memory and man's earthly hopes. Consider the immense 
stream of humanity pouring in upon us from the four 
quarters of the globe ; from poor down-cast famine stricken 
Ireland, on the west, to wall-surrounded, mind-fettered 
China, on the east of the other hemisphere. These 
strangers, yet human brothers, are spreading by tens of 
thousands over our broad and goodly land, to find the 
blessings of knowledge, liberty and peace. It is our's, in 
this fruitful and heaven-adorned asylum, to receive them 
all with a brother's welcome, and share with them all, the 
common heritage of God our Father, till their own lands 
shall cease to be prisons, and become peaceful abodes of 
Christian men. 

We are truly " a peculiar people, called out of darkness 
into marvellous light." We now see something of the 
true grandeur of our moral mission as a people. The 



16 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY. 

religion of the future is looking up to us, and the liberty of 
the future is looking up to us. Poor wounded groaning 
liberty is now looking toward us with yearning heart and 
tearful eyes, as the exile looks towards the home of his love. 
Poor priest-wronged, church-bound, crucified religion is 
now looking up to us, as the suffering saint looks towards 
the tomb, as the gateway to immortal glory. 

Let us guard well our sublime and holy trust. Should 
the unrighteous hands of political ambition or religious 
bigotry, ever for a day, succeed in removing the ark of our 
covenant of civil and religious freedom, may worse than 
Assyrian calamities afiflict the plunderers, till our heavenly 
treasure be restored. 

Should the genius of human liberty ever be driven from 
our shores, like Noah's dove, may she find no rest for the 
sole of her foot, till she return and find a glad people 
ready to receive, to cherish and to love her. The rule 
conservative of all good, may be summed up in a smgle 
sentence. Let each one, as an American, as a man, and 
as a Christian, live true to himself, that is, to his know- 
ledge and his privileges. He who thus Jives true to him- 
self, will live true to his fellow-man, his country, and his 
God. 

Let us live thus truly, for we see — 

" There is a mighty dawing on the earth, 
Of human glory — dreams unknown before, 
Fill the mind's boundless world, and wondrous birth 
Is given to great thought. 
On every side appears a silent token. 
Of what will be hereafter — when existence 
Shall become a pure and sacred thing, 
And earth, sweep high as heaven." 



DISCOURSE II. 



THE 

MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 

DISCOURSE 11. 

Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free. — Gala- 
TIANS, 5:1. 

As to every intelligent being, so to every nation, the 
Creator appears to assign some work, and to grant to 
each the incentives and means, to discover and perform 
that work. 

Among other problems, which appear to be given us, 
to solve — the mission of our country and government be- 
ing a moral mission — is that of union and liberty in re- 
ligion. 

Can there be liberty of conscience, freedom of speech, 
and unity of action in religion ? 

In no nation yet, as the records of seventeen centuries 
demonstrate, has entire hberty of conscience been found 
to co-exist with unity of action among nominal disciples 
of Christianit}^ From the fact that government has re- 
cognised no preference of one over another, the necessity 
of mutual toleration among the sects — for it has only 
been toleration and not charity — has led some in other 
countries, to attribute to us as a people, much more vir- 
tue tban is justly ours. 

A well known British writer, himself a theologian, in 
speaking of our institutions, says : '' It is hardly possible 
for any nation to show a greater superiority over another, 



20 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

than the Americans in this particular have shown over us. 
They have fairly, completely, and probably forever extin- 
guished that spirit of persecution, which has been the 
employment and curse of mankind, for four or five cen- 
turies. Not only that persecution which imprisons and 
scourges for opinions, but the tyranny of incapacitation, 
which by disqualifying from civil offices, and cutting a 
man off from the lawful objects of ambition, endeavors to 
strangle religious freedom in silence, and to enjoy all the 
advantages, without the blood, and noise, and fire of per- 
secution." 

Partially true as this is, you readily perceive how far it 
is over drawn. Place by its side the following declaration 
from a late number of a Roman Catholic periodical, pub- 
lished in our own country: " Religious 'tolerance is a 
heresy, and no Catholic can for an instant tolerate it. 
Every Catholic must profess religious intolerance or cease 
to be a Catholic. The essence of this religious intolerance 
is expressed in this article of faith — " Out of the Church, 
there is no salvation." '■'' It follows therefore, that where 
religious intolerance must always and everywhere be right, 
civil tolerance may be proper to-day and not to-morrow — 
right in one country and wrong in another." The same 
writer then proceeds to show where unlimited toleration 
may be advantageous to the Church — namely, where the 
government professes atheism, paganism or a false religion. 

In China, England, or the United States, where a false 
religion prevails, it mav be beneficial to the Church, that 
there should be unlimited toleration. 

On the other hand, where the true religion, that is, the 
Roman Catholic, controls the government, as in Italy or 
Spain — "intolerance on the part of the State becomes a 
religious duty" — for "the advocacy of new doctrines 
would disiurb the public peace." 

You perceive from this doctrine, openly advocated at 
this day, in our own country, by a religious community. 



WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 21 

equalling in numbers any one of the various Churches, 
how far our government is from extinguishing completely 
and forever, that spirit of persecution, which has so long 
been the dishonour of Christian sects. 

We perceive that the liberal spirit of our civil institu- 
tions, has not by any means extinguished, but by protect- 
ing all in the exercise of their religious sentiments, thus 
far, has only restrained the spirit of persecution. 

Indeed, though liberalizing influences have diiTused 
among the people a liberal spirit, yet, many of the clergy 
of Protestant Churches, the leaders or guides of denomi- 
nations, as far as their actual proceedings will warrant an 
opinion, are as destitute of genuine charity, as intolerant 
of religious opinions varying from their own, as in any 
previous period of Christian history. In many of our 
social circles, the lines of exclusion are drawn on secta- 
rian principles, and not unfrequently iu some of our com- 
munities, ceyi?i\nreJigious sentiments are made the ground 
of political action, in electing candidates to office. 

No one who reads the weekly publications of the reli- 
gious press, can easily mistake what sovio^ spirit actuates 
its directors. The uncharitableness of the religious press, 
is a by-word even among political partisans. 

Lawyers, physicians, and opposing politicians, have 
always been accustomed, more or less, to meet, consult, 
deliberate, and act together. But a few years since a 
number of clergy of several Protestant denominations, 
assembled in London, to form what they styled an 
Evangelical Alliance. The world was moved at tiie 
amazing spectacle, and it was thought by some, that 
the " Kingdom of Heaven " was indeed " at hand." 
Yet what was the first act of that world-surprising as- 
sembly. It was, to frame a creed excluding from the 
Alliance, not only more than half of all Christendom, 
namely, the Roman Catholic Church, but also, in ex- 
press terms, excluding several Protestant denomina- 



22 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

tions, embracing probably one-fourth of the Protestant 
world. 

But what has been the issue of that assembly and that 
platform 1 Almost since that time, or for three or four 
years past, we hear nothing of the Evangelical Alliance. 
It has died a natural death — expired almost as soon as 
born, and Bishop Hughes, had he recalled the fact, might 
have enumerated this, among the evidences of what he 
styles " The decline of Protestantism." 

But praise to the Supremely Good, all truth is not in- 
closed by the walls of Roman Catholic Churches, nor 
confined in Protestant creeds. There are other agencies 
operating, than religious partisans, and sectarian denomi- 
nations, And it is here, under the protection of our 
government, under the guidance of our civil institutions — 
as all appearances conspire to indicate, that the problem 
of religious liberty is to be solved. That theoretical and 
practical religion, are to be reconciled. It is for our 
country and our citizens to prove practicable, entire liber- 
ty of conscience, and entire unity of action, freedom of 
judgment and unity of spirit. 

As in the name of liberty, the sternest tyrants have 
mounted to the throne of despotism, so in the name of 
religion, through ages, have been perpetrated the most 
inhuman and ungodly deeds. In the name of zeal for the 
Christian faith, have been performed enormities, which 
would be deemed cruel even among barbarians. It can 
then, scarcely be a matter of astonishment, if some be 
found, who will express their serious doubts, as to Chris- 
tianity having been a blessing to the world. But we see 
that mind itself, that which allies the creature to the Crea- 
tor, and is in man, the image of the Deity, may be distorted 
into the image of coarse brutality. Talent, genius, the 
loftiest faculties of man, may be perverted into instruments 
of the lowest, basest, and most unmanly uses. Christianity 
has been both misapprehended and misused. Can chris- 



WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 23 

tianity inculcate the most Godlike mercy, the most unhm- 
ited benevolence, and the most universal brotherhood, and 
still lead practically to intolerance, hatred, and barbarous 
cruelty ! The indisputable facts, afford conclusive evi- 
dence of some fundamental misunderstanding or misap- 
plication. 

Need we travel far, or speculate profoundly, to detect 
the essential mistake ? Ts it not obvious enough that 
the point of misunderstanding has been, that of striving 
for an uniformity of belief which man should never have 
expected, and which Christianity does not contemplate? 

Churches have made the chief requirement an agree- 
ment of interpretation, instead of purity of character, and 
the practice of benevolence. They have made Chris- 
tianity only a scheme adapted to an exigency in the remo- 
test past, and a contingency in the remotest future, in- 
stead of principles adapted to the present, and to every 
condition, and every action of every rational being. It is 
thus, that Christianity has become an external and dead 
form, rather than an internal and living spirit, diffusing 
itself through, and extending itself over, modifying, trans- 
forming, and regenerating all things, which require to be 
changed, transformed, or regenerated- 

But many changes have occurred, transformations nu- 
merous are in actual progress. During the seventy-seven 
years, since that memorable day of which to-morrow will 
be the anniversary, we have spread the myriad wings of 
commerce, and visiting every clime and every race, we 
have returned laden with the treasures of fraternal chari- 
ty, as well as the luxuries demanded by an affluent 
civilization. We have discovered that there are as St. 
Paul declares — " in every nation those who fear God and 
work righteousness " — and that " God is no respecter of 
persons." Still more, by the vast facilities of intercom- 
munication, we see our government, like the great orb of 
day, spreading the shield of its protection over the most 
opposing religions among men. 



24 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

Some few are startled from their sectarian composure, 
by learning that a heathen temple containing its heathen 
Gods, is erected on our Western coast. There being now, 
as variously estimated, from thirty to fifty thousand Chi- 
nese in the State of California, where they have erected 
an edifice for their own worship. 

Thus, under our protecting laws, stand in equal freedom, 
side by side, the Christian Church, the Jewish Synago- 
gue, and the Heathen Temple. Shall we utter complaints 
or indulge fears? Where then is our faith, in the divine 
truth, and subduing power of our religion ? Is Christian- 
ity endangered by the proximity of an idolatrous worship? 
We despatch missionaries to subvert the religion of the 
Pagan, and shall we dread results, when, instead of 
shrinking from us, the Pagan comes to us and challenges 
investigation ! It is true our Christian brother of Britain 
sends the Gospel to China, but he enforces it with guns. 
He offers them bibles with the alternative of bullets, and 
sends them preaehers accompanied with powder. He 
invites them to the Kingdom of Heaven, but the foretaste 
of its glories, he gives in the ecstacies produced by opi- 
um and rum. He tells them of Christian Saints, and gives 
them examples, in drunken sailors and brutal soldiers. 
The Chinese Emperor had learned something of Christian 
history, when he said — " 1 want no Christianity in my 
Empire, for these Christians whiten the soil with human 
bones, wherever they go." It should not be amazing, if 
his Majesty, had deemed it his duty, to send us some mis- 
sionaries to teach us, according to his view, some lessons 
of charity, and convince us of the virtues of humanity 
and peace. 

Some of the sternly disciplined leaders of sectarianism, 
who exercise a feeble faith in the inherent power of truth, 
appear to dread this latitude of civil liberty, which pro- 
tects, even in a Christian land, the practice of a Heathen 
worship. 



WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 25 

But the multitudes have less distrust of goodness and 
of God. They feel that in Christianity there is a Divine 
element of truth which can never suffer by comparison 
with Heathen error, and they see that our government 
thus far in its operation, is like the Deity, who causes his 
sun to shine on the ignorant and wise, the evil and the 
good. The mass of men, though attached to the systems 
and churches of their childhood, are yet interested, as all 
observation testifies, as much in the advancement of so- 
ciety, as in the organism of their Church. They love 
man more than they love their creed ; they study univer- 
sal truth, more than their prescribed doctrines ; and they 
labour more for the advancement of Ciu-istian liberty, 
than for their sectarian success. 

As a nation, we experience an unexampled degree of 
material prosperity, and it is true that in the multiform 
activities, we do not always find a due regard to religious 
agencies and religious principles. 

But this indifference is not emnity, — it is not even oppo- 
sition. Railway companies may build costly depots ra- 
ther than splendid churches, but they are strengthening 
the principle of united social action. They may increase 
the percentage of their dividends, but they are also in- 
creasing the sympathies of a divided people, and blending 
the interests of separated communities. Every car rushing 
over city and county lines, and recognizing no State limits, 
is a herald of good tidings, a harbinger of peace, a proclaim- 
er of good will. The lines of iron network, far and wide 
extending through the atmosphere, are electric nerves by 
which the whole nation thrills to the same impulse and 
vibrates to the same touch, and through which millions 
may sympathize, from Occident to Orient, from the pole 
to the Equator. 

These inventions of art, and material agents, are not 
enemies of religion. They are mighty moral forces. For 
by extinguishing distances we are destroying differences 



36 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

— by bringing people nearer to each other, we obliterate 
the lines which have divided them — by joining their social 
sympathies, we weaken their religious prejudices. 

To men and women who daily enter the same doors, 
travel in the same cars, reside in the same hotels, and sit 
at the same tables, the rumblings of pulpit thunder soon 
loose their terrors, and priestly denunciations are soon 
regarded as harmless outbursts of venerable fretfulness. 
The complaining of a spirit of restless exclusiveness, 
declining of old age, and unhappy even in its departing 
hours, as a righteous retribution for making others mise- 
rable while it lived. I would not be understood as pre- 
dicting the speedy advent of a millennium of national 
love, and brotherhood and glory. 1 would neither over- 
look nor underrate the obstacles yet to be surmounted, by 
the benevolent spirit of Christianity. For there is still 
existing, as we have seen, a domineering spirit of Church 
authority, Protestant as well as Romanist, which, if armed 
with civil power, would soon stifle all free thought, and 
check all outward progress which might be deemed 
incompatible with religious tyranny. 

Still more, there is a servility to public prejudice, an 
obsequiousness to fashion, and a time-serving dread of 
popular shadows, which must be displaced by the inspi- 
ration of a strong sense of human dignity, a free, firm, 
consciousness of manly independence, before permanent 
and rapid progress can be made, in the real liberty of the 
Gospel. 

But, with a republican government, well established, 
and now growing venerable by years — with liberty of 
conscience and liberty of speech unrestrained by violence 
— with foreign commerce and domestic enterprize — with 
a common language, a common literature and a free press 
— with benevolent unions of every form, having in view 
no political nor sectarian designs, but moral objects, so- 
cial improvement and mutual aid, uniting men of all par- 



WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 27 

ties, classes, sects and religions — with all these, potent 
agencies in free and successful operation, spiritual tyranny 
and church exclusiveness cannot hope for immortality. 
Their days are numbered, and union and brotherhood 
must triumph. 

In the rapid and sanguinary revolutions of Europe, 
from despotism to liberty, then back from republicanism 
to monarchy, many of the unhappy milHons may be dis- 
trustful and discouraged in the cause of truth. They 
may be unable to determine whether the present aspect 
of affairs, is but one of the vicissitudes of an eternal re- 
volution, which, in the history of nations, must always 
mark the changing fortunes of mankind — or, whether it 
is only the precurser of a mighty convulsion which shall 
shake the continent. A solemn calm, with darkly gather- 
ing clouds, before the eruption of volcanic fires, now 
burning and gathering strength in the bosom of the people 
— but which, in a devouring torrent, shall one day sweep 
away, every vestige of venerable tyrannies, preparatory 
to the renovation of the social heavens and social earth, 
for a new, better and more enduring condition of the 
European race. 

But with our peaceful security, unparalleled freedom, 
general intelligence, commercial relations, and lofty posi- 
tion before the world, we clearly see, that our mission, is 
a moral mission. If to any people on earth is indicated 
by Providence a work to do, it is clearly ours, to solve 
the problem of religious liberty and Christian union. To 
embody and exemplify the alliance of religion and morals, 
to reconcile practically and forever, the two great com- 
mandments, duty to God and duty to man — love to our 
father and love to our brother — Divine worship and hu- 
man fraternity. 

The final conflict between spiritual authority and spirit- 
ual freedom has not yet been fought. The victory of free 
thought has not yet been secured. To some of its 



28 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

auxiliaries in our land and nge, we have now adverted. 
Church despotisms, both Romanist and Protestant, feel 
the reins of power over human conscience gliding rapidly 
from their reluctant hands, and in voice of lamentation, 
they are bewailing the ungodliness of the age. It is only 
an age of doubt, they tell us; an age of faithfulness, an 
age of gross impiety. But 1 would tell them that having 
eyes, they see not that it is their own stolid infatuation — 
that this is an age of unexampled energy, and benevo- 
lence, and beneficence, and faith in the power of goodness, 
rather than of plans, schemes, articles and confessions. 
That the world is moving while they stand still, and that 
the motion of the time is not backward, but onward, and 
pacific and humane. That the watchwords of our coun- 
try are union and brotherhood — the very heart of the 
Christian philosophy, the very standard from the sacred 
lips of Jesus — " By this shall all men know that ye are 
my disciples, if ye have love one to another." 

Yes, it is here that the sun of righteousness is to reach 
the zenith of its earthly glory. If not here, in this land 
where every religion is protected, where every conscience 
is held sacred, where no rack, no stake, no scaffold can 
intimidate —where no church, no creed, priest or preacher 
can interpose earthly authority between the soul and ^ts 
Creator — if not here, then explore the globe and tell me 
where. Consider the present and presage the future, and 
tell me when and where, the problem of religious liberty 
can be resolved 1 Tell me wlien and where, opinion un- 
restrained, and co-operation in unity of spirit, can be 
practicable or be possible. The truth has been declared, 
the decree has gone forth. The angel of a free faith 
stands with one foot upon the land, and one upon the sea, 
oi this last born hemisphere, and affirms in the name of 
God, and of human welfare, that the terrors of religious 
tyranny shall be here, no longer. 

It is said of the brave reformer of the sixteenth century, 



WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 29 

that he then blew a blast which shook all Europe. But 
that blast was blown for only a partial emancipation of 
the soul from spiritual chains. For by his own hostility 
to his laboring brethren, the reformer soon discovered, 
that with all his bold advocacy of private judgment, he 
meant by freedom, no more than a change of masters — 
and from that day till this, the reformation, though leading 
indirectly to the bestaspectsof the present, has been dnect- 
ly, little else than an exchange of Roman Pontiffs, for 
Protestant Popes. 

Luther was only the Moses to lead to the confines of 
Canaan, which he saw from Pisgah, but not the Joshua to 
conduct Israel up fully, into the rich land of promise. 

In the way of independent investigation of Christian 
truth, there is a tyranny of Protestant Church systems, 
extending its hideous arm into the most sacred privacy of 
social relations, which is as formidable to the timid and 
unheroic searcher, as the racks of a Roman inquisition, 
which so effectually extinguish the evil of heresy. 

But superior to the spirit either of Romanism or of 
Protestantism, there is a spirit of Christianity — whose 
heavcnl}' aspect I would gladly recognise in the heart of 
any human brother, whether found in a Romanist Cathe- 
dral or a Protestant Prayer Meeting. 

We see now some of the potent forces which are at 
work, destroying divisions, and harnjonizing sections, 
societies, and the interests of individuals. 

The only method remaining to perpetuate religious ex- 
clusiveness, is to stop steam cars, take down telegraphs, 
silence the press, and destroy the newspaper. For every 
observer must perceive, that railroads, electric wires, a 
free press, and a free literatm-e, are the natural necessary 
uncnmpromising and eternal enemies, of self-complacent 
and uncharitable sectarianism. * 

This day, completes seventy-seven years since our pa- 
triot fathers proclaimed the charter of czw7 freedom, under 



30 THE MORAL MISSION OF OUR COUNTRY, 

which, at this hour, we hve and prosper. But we have 
yet to hear proclaimed, the declaration of the world's re- 
ligious disenthralment. Give us but the pacific policy, 
the material prosperity, the scientific discoveries, benifi- 
cent inventions, and harmonizing Christian researches of 
seventy-seven years more, under the protection of our in" 
dependent government, and the work is done. In this 
hemisphere spiritual tyranny shall have perished, secta- 
rianism will have died, its history will have been recorded, 
its epitaph written, the human mind will be free, and God 
will reign, supreme sovereign of the soul. Three quar- 
ters of a century more of a pacijic policy ! Yes, it must 
be, if at all, it must be in peace that the problem of reli- 
gious liberty is to be resolved. War disorders all, revo- 
lution confuses every thing. Literature, sculpture, paint- 
ing, music — all the harmonizing, refining and elevating 
arts, are unpatronized, suspended, often crushed in war. 
The resources of the nation are then turned in a wrong 
direction, and employed to uncivilize society. Our own 
country, directly or indirectly, within the last twelve 
years, has expended in war, a sufficient amount of money 
to have purchased all the territory she has acquired, and 
besides this, to have built a college in every city, perhaps 
in every country of this broad Union, affording each a 
handsome perpetual endowment, by which every child 
now living in this land might, as far as capable, have been 
liberally educated — to say nothing of the loss of human 
life and human happiness, which no words can describe, 
and no figures calculate. Such are the painful trials to 
which we are subjecting our Christian faith, the peculiar 
message of which, proclaims peace on earth, and good 
will among men. Both the war and the expenditure may 
have been necessary and inevitable, yet in this nineteenth 
century of enlightened Christianity, all such expenditure 
appears to indicate the passing strange shorL-sightedness 
of human action. The religious mission of our country. 



WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANITY. 31 

the power of our religion itself among- ourselves, mani- 
festfully depends upon our peaceful policy. 

Surely there is a glorious day yet to come, and though 
we may not, the generations who follow us, will see and 
enjoy it. Let us cherish grateful memories this day, of 
the noble deeds and virtues of our departed fathers, as we 
would be gratefully remembered by those who shall suc- 
ceed us. 

Now may each of us, and all, enjoy the benediction of 
the God of our fathers, who is our God, and the God of 
the eternal future. 



^^7 



1 

/ THE 

mo/al mission of our country, 



TWO DISCOURSES 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE UNITARIAN CHRISTIANS, OF 
CHARLESTON, S. O. 



ON SUNDAY, JULY 3d, 1853 



REV. CHARLES M. TAGGART. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



Charleston : 



STEAM POWER-PRESS OF WALKER AND JAMES, 
No. 3 Broad-Street. 

\ 1853. 



